Saturday, August 30, 2014

BOOK REVIEW - ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by STEPHANIE PERKINS - ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS # 1 - YA CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

By: Stephanie Perkins
Published By: Penguin
Released : Available Now
Details: Paperback from library, 372 Pages

RATING: 4.25 YOUNG LOVE STARS!

Blurb : Goodreads

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris--until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming,beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?


BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:


Anna and the French Kiss is a book I have been meaning to read for quite a while. I knew it was popular. It has over 119,000 ratings on Goodreads alone.

This was an adorable and enjoyable YA romance, made even more romantic in a young adult way by the back drop being Paris.

I have been to France, I was just a touch older than Anna. I climbed to the top of Notre Dame and looked out over the streets of Paris. I have read a few stories where this is the setting and really loved being on the streets of France.

Etienne St. Clair is a character who is very likable. He isn’t your alpha stud, he is a much quieter character who flirts and has his own family issues he tries to cover up. He is funny and endearing.

He likes Anna. He has great hair. He is liked by many at SOAP, the boarding school they attend in Paris. He has a British accent. He is cute and sweet and vulnerable. 

He also has a girlfriend.

Anna has been deposited in Paris by her writer father. Anna doesn’t much like being taken away from Toph, the boy she is crushing on back home.

This was a delightful read, I had to remind myself that with teenage love, comes drama and hormones which make for rash decisions and complications.

Love can be easy and love can be a slow burn.

Anna and the French Kiss is a slow burn tale, but once I got to the end I really appreciated St. Clair and the complications his character brought to his friendship with Anna.

Anna does a lot of growing up in Paris. She arrives annoyed by her father’s decision to make her study in an exclusive school, where she doesn’t even understand the language. She will leave a young lady who has learnt the value of friendship and what it means to love somebody and in turn be loved back.

A clean and adorable read. I was expecting a little more from the plot, something that would make me gasp out loud. Instead I got a romantic setting, a group of teenagers all with love issues, and in some cases, jealousy issues, a boy with a gorgeous name and a girl who grew on me the more I read about her.

Young love has its highs and lows and its confusing moments. I personally would have loved to have been in Anna’s shoes and been plopped into France for a year of schooling. What stories to tell your kids one day.

I was on a Contiki tour. Hehee! A lot less romantic, but I did visit France when I was eighteen.

This was an endearing read and I look forward to reading Lola and the Boy Next Door.

This is a book I would give my daughter to read, when she is old enough.



Michelle

8 comments:

  1. Yay! So thrilled to hear you loved this. I've had a copy sitting on my shelf that I bought for ages but I haven't read yet. I know tones of people who love this series, but it always sets my mind a little more at ease when I learn you enjoyed something I plan to read :)

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    1. Rachel, I really did like this. I can see why it has sold BIG! It is very YA but I appreciate that.

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  2. Oh yes this one. I heard so many great things since its release and we even have it in French but I still need to try. It sounds good!

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    1. Melliane, of course! You are French, you will enjoy the scenery :D

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  3. I put this book down because I felt like I was robbing it of the awesomeness of it because I was having a hard time with RL stuff going on and it was taking away from my ability to enjoy it. I need to give this one another go!
    http://www.thebrokenshelf.com

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    1. Johannah, it is a slow burn. I understand that, and I went with it. It is YA, so it is written accordingly with the romance. It's a funny thing, sometimes the slow burn authors sell enormous amounts. :D

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  4. I'm glad you enjoyed this one so much, Michelle. It's a book I've been meaning to read for quite awhile as well. :) I like the Paris backdrop - that's the only way I'll get to Paris anytime soon. *ha*

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    1. Brandee, I have been to Paris around the age of these characters, I was 18. It did bring back memories. Expect a slow burn romance and YA and I think it works nicely. It's not about action, its about coming of age and growing up when you are thrust into another country and there happens to be a boy name Etienne on your radar :D Young love and its mistakes along the way.

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